Maya's bounty for parks but peanuts for poor Bundelkhand:india today

Unfazed by all the criticism heaped on her, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati continues to flush money into her personal agenda of parks and memorials at the expense of development. The supplementary budget of Rs 1,500 crore passed by the assembly on Wednesday sets aside Rs 500 crore for Mayawati's ongoing pet projects while drought-hit Bundelkhand gets Rs 10 crore. According to an estimate, more than 2,000 farmers have committed suicide in the Bundelkhand region in the past five years because of crop failures and debts. Similarly, eastern UP where floods wreak havoc every year, got a meagre Rs 50 crore in the name of development. Bundelkhand's paltry allocation is despite the CM's projection of herself as the champion of the region - apparently to counter Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's development initiatives there. This is the same region for which Mayawati has written a dozen letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking a special aid package. But when it came to allocating resources from her own government's kitty, she chose the Ambedkar Parivartan Sthal and the Kanshi Ram Memorial over Bundelkhand. However, while the supplementary budget was being passed in the assembly, BSP state president Swami Prasad Maurya, blamed the Centre for the condition of the farmers in Bundelkhand. "The Centre must address the problems of the farmers who have been reeling under drought for more than a decade. The BSP MPs had met the PM recently and informed him that the central government had not taken any constructive initiative in this regard," Maurya said. "Mayawati has said UPA's Rs 3,506-crore drought package for Bundelkhand was paltry," he added. Reacting to "Mayawati's anti-development politics", UP Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi said: "Mayawati wants all development in the region to be rooted through her government. But the problem is any money given to the state government is diverted to her projects of stones and buildings." She added: "The Centre approved Rs 3,506 crore for seven districts in the region. But there is no sign of development. Now, by giving RS 10 crore, Mayawati has made it clear that she holds the poor in contempt." State Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh said Mayawati's own village Badalpur in Gautam Buddha Nagar has got twice the amount of money given to Bundelkhand. Sorce:IndiaToday